NYSUT (NY state teachers' union) wins in court decision on tests and evaluations

New York State's teachers union (New York State United Teachers, NYSUT) scored a victory on August 24, 2011 in a New York State-level court decision.
The New York City based "Chief" reported in the September 2, 2011 issue ("Exceeded Terms of NYSUT Deal: Judge Blocks State Bid to Up Teacher Test Liability) that school districts can count student test scores at the level of 40 percent of the teacher's evaluation only if the union approves.

Democratic New York State governor Andrew Cuomo opposed teachers on this one. ("Union, state battle over teacher evaluations," in "Rochester Democrat and Chronicle") He pushed for teachers to be evaluated with 40 percent of their evaluations based on students' test scores.

The over-riding principle was the collective bargaining process. The state union sued New York State in June over the evaluation formula, arguing that Cuomo was attempting to "circumvent collective bargaining." Cuomo's 40 percent formula went against the original state and teachers' union agreement that the student test scores would only use those scores for 20 percent of a teacher's evaluation. The New York State Board of Regents decided that local school districts would have the choice on using these test evaluations.

(No reaction yet from New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg or city's United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew on this one.)

For more, pick up a copy of "The Chief" at the newsstand or read it at your local public library.